finished! zip up for stuart

Yesterday, I finally finished Stuart's birthday sweater.



His birthday was March 12.



I also got him a bottle of scotch for his birthday, so I didn't hear much complaining that his sweater wasn't done. (No, that's not scotch in his cup. It's coffee.)



He might have refrained from complaining about not having a new sweater because he was afraid it would be a flop.



It wasn't a flop. It actually worked out rather well! Though I did sweat over it a good deal. First, I thought it wouldn't be long enough, so I added a couple inches to everything. Then it turned out everything was a couple inches too long, and I had to do surgery on every piece to fix it. Then the sleeves didn't fit into the armholes and I had to pick out the seams and rip back a little bit to add length to the armholes. In the end, everything worked out, but for a little while there I was worried that all the work would be for naught and I'd have to donate the sweater to charity.



I love this goofy GQ pose:



There's only one teeny tiny problem: the zipper is a little short. I didn't think my husband would want to zip it up all the way, but it turns out he does, so I'll have to pull it out and sew in a longer one. This kind of makes me want to cry because sewing in a zipper is a lot of work, but it's better to fix the detail that annoys him. These finishing details really are what make or break a sweater, I think. If I could do it over, I would probably add a little more to the collar, too, and as long as I'm re-doing the zipper, I may go ahead and do that. But I'm still calling this finished for today!



Patterns: Zip up cardigan, by Hannah Fettig
Yarn: Cascade 128 superwash, about 9 hanks in dark navy blue
Sticks: Size 9 for ribbing, size 10.5 for everything else. I used KP Zephyr interchangables. (I like them. The see-through aspect of the needle tips didn't bother me.)
Mods: None, as it turned out, though I thought I had to adjust the length.
Comments: This is a lovely design. The fact that it's a man's sweater that my husband likes and will wear says a LOT, since he is incredibly picky about his clothes (re: the plainer the better). I'm not sold on the superwash yarn, though. It's very soft and lovely, but it stretches like all get-out when you wash it. I had to stick the whole thing in the dryer for at least 30 minutes to get it back into shape, which worked, but doing this a lot will wear out the sweater pretty quickly. It's also expensive. The only reason I bought this instead of non-superwash was that I couldn't find enough of any other bulky yarn in the right color!

All in all, I'm pleased - and relieved - with how this sweater turned out, but I'm ready to knit something small now. Like maybe socks. I think it's time for more socks.

Comments

WildflowerWool said…
Wow, it sounds like you put a lot of work into this sweater but it looks great on him!
cauchy09 said…
Oh, wow, the sweater looks perfect! So...now which sock pattern will you knit?
Anonymous said…
I'm so happy for you! You were about to give me nightmares over that sweater. So glad it worked out. It looks great!

ann
NessaKnits said…
What a lucky husband. Don't bother refining. Ask him what colour he would like next year and start now with all your modifications already in mind!
Unknown said…
The sweater looks great! My son's birthday is March 12th too. I didn't make him a sweater. Or buy him scotch. He is 8. :)
gay said…
oh it is fabulous and a great fit. i am so glad it worked out. and since you are ripping out the zipper i also vote for adding to the neckline ribbing. it would make it so handsome-er!!!love it have a nice weekend in spite of the snow!

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